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Conservation Easement Adds 222 acres of Old-Growth Forest to Woodbourne Forest and Wildlife Preserve

The Nature Conservancy Commits $3.5 Million To Protect Pennsylvania’s Last Great Places

DIMOCK, PA — January 5, 2007 — Pennsylvania’s diverse wildlife has nearly 500 additional acres forever protected across the state thanks to local conservationists and a $3.5 million commitment from The Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania.

The 50-year-old conservation organization, whose mission is to protect the diversity of life on earth, identified five critical parcels that are habitat for Pennsylvania’s unique biodiversity and, through acquisition and conservation easements, took action to protect the land for future generations.

The newly protected habitat includes old-growth forests at Woodbourne Forest and Wildlife Preserve near Dimock Township in Susquehanna County, endangered Bog Turtle habitat in Cherry Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, woodland vernal pools at Minsi Lake in Northampton County and South Mountain in Cumberland County, and a riparian corridor along the pristine French Creek in Crawford County.

“This is an exciting opportunity to expand conservation at one of The Nature Conservancy’s first preserves and the very first in Pennsylvania,” said Bill Kunze, state director for The Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania.  “Dr. Harding’s donation of a 222.5-acre conservation easement adjacent to our Woodbourne Forest and Wildlife Preserve further protects some of the state’s best old-growth forest and ensures quality habitat for 147 bird species, including 106 breeding species, found in these woods.”

Kunze added that the easement donation will limit future development of the property, protecting the northeastern end of the preserve. It also provides habitat management and scientific research of plant and animal populations.  The easement will be monitored by the Conservancy’s local Woodbourne Stewardship Committee and its resident naturalist.

The Dr. John and Eleanor Harding property abuts the 654-acre Woodbourne Forest and Wildlife Preserve, of which 125 acres are virgin forest of northern hardwoods and conifers. The preserve, an important avian stopover for more than 150 neo-tropical birds, was originally donated to The Nature Conservancy in 1956 by naturalist Francis Cope.

For more information on The Nature Conservancy and its work in Pennsylvania, visit nature.org/Pennsylvania. To contribute to these conservation projects or other Conservancy initiatives within Pennsylvania, call (800) 756-2887.

The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working to protect the most ecologically important lands and waters around the world for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.